Enter the Darkness: Naruto and the Ishian Kingdom
by Naea Urahara
Summary: A Kingdom in collapse. An old enemy is brought back. A war has begun. Can Naruto keep the princess safe? Or will he fall into the darkness? O/C. Part of the Enter the Darkness series.
1. The Darkness Appears

_**Darkness Enters**_

_Through the Darkness_

_Comes a Light._

_That Light however can be snuffed out_

_And destroyed._

A dark hallowed hall lit by nothing but the light of a sole lantern. Four figures, all in hoods, run through the hall of the ruined building.

_30 seconds._

Four hooded figures, all in black hoods were running through, searching for something.

_20 seconds_

Door after door had been passed, not even opened a crack as if they each knew exactly where they were going.

_15 seconds_

Closer and closer they had gotten as if an energy had compelled them to keep moving forward.

_10 seconds_

Finally, they stopped in front of the biggest door, the large double doors than seemed to span for long spans in each direction.

_5 seconds_

They opened the doors, looking into the pitch darkness they saw a figure leaning over. It looked at them. Suddenly a spark of blue electricity came from the darkness, it's light revealing a dark eyed teen, his hair like that of a sparrow.

_Arrival._

"If you knew where you were," the teen said stoicly, "You'd know you don't want to be here."

The tallest of the hooded figures walked in the front holding his hand out.

"Hold on," he interrupted, his voice cold and full of darkness. "I have a proposal… Sasuke Uchiha."

The teen stopped charging his attack then sat back down. "Who are you? How do you know me?"

The hooded man laughed a cold spine chilling laugh. He spoke, "Let's just say I have my…" he took off his hood revealing a man with creepy yellow eyes, his long silver hair tied into a still long ponytail, some of it covering his eyes. His smile able to send a chill down the bravest men's spains… Except for Sasuke's.

"Tell me," he ordered, "Tell me your little proposal."

The man smirked and laughed. "What would you say… If I told you I could give you a chance to kill Naruto Uzumaki."


	2. Enter the Group

Don't worry Princess," came a voice out of the darkness of night. "I'll get you to safety. We'll find a village and save the kingdom. I promise."

"Ray… th…that's… what about-"

"Don't worry Your Highness. I'm sure he'll be alright."

"But your hurt too!"

"Flesh wound, I've had worse. Don't worry about me. Just rest."

The princess nodded and fell asleep over the teen's shoulder.

The teen looked up at a gate. It was a gate to the village, which one he didn't know. There was no moon that night, so he couldn't see the symbol.

"A village? How far… did…. I…"

The teen didn't finish his sentence, he fainted, right there in front of the gate with the princess on his back.

**The Next Morning**

"So how'd the mission go?" Sai asked Sakura as they all ate their ramen.

Sakura sighed just poking at the noodles in her bowl. "No leads… again."

Naruto stopped eating his noodles for once and just stared blankly into the brown broth. Tsunade and given them all permission to do no missions except for those involving the Akatsuki or finding anything in one of Orochimaru's hideouts if they could find any information on Sasuke. It had been four months since then. Four months filled with zero leads, their time had been running out and both Naruto and Sakura knew it.

Sai finished up the last of his soup and looked at both of them giving them that smile of his. "It was a small hideout though yes? There was no guarantee that there would be any clues to begin with."

They nodded. "We know," they both said in unison.

Sakura put her bowl down. "That doesn't mean we can give up though Sai."

Sai nodded. "I understand that. As the reason for myself helping both of you in this endeavor." He handed his bowl over and cleaned off his hands. "Anyway, did either of you hear what happened late last night?"

Sakura jumped up. "Yeah, those kids outside the village."

Naruto shot up like a dart waving his hands. "Whoa, whoa whoa! What happened!?"

"Naruto," Sakura sighed, "Don't tell me your that out of the loop?"

"What happened!?"

"Last night outside the village this boy with a child on his back were found unconscious outside the gate. He was a bloody mess and clearly exhausted. By the time they had gotten him into the hospital he was barely breathing."

"What about the kid?"

"She's fine. Just a few bruises and scratches. The fact that they got here though isn't the big story. It's who they are that's big."

"Who are they huh?"

Sakura opened her mouth, but she was interrupted by a hand from behind her flashing in front of her face.

"Sakura, Naruto, Sai." a male voice ordered. They turned around to see Yamato and stood up quickly.

"Captain Yamato!"

He nodded. "The Hokage would like to speak with us all. Immediately."

"Right!"

"Wait a minute," Naruto sighed. "We have to meet Grandma Tsunade here?"

After a few minutes the group arrived outside the doors of the hospital. Yamato had led them there to meet with Tsunade instead of at her office, which was pretty strange in Naruto's head. Yamato just nodded and led them inside to a room on the very top floor, a room separated from the rest.

Yamato stopped and held the doorknob. "Now listen, when you walk in here, watch your words. That goes double for you Naruto."

They nodded, as did the captain as he slowly opened the door. The room had a little bit of light coming into it, but most of it was shaded and gray. Toward the window was a lone bed, in it was a boy heavily bandaged from his neck down to his ankles. He was about Naruto's size in muscle, though they were more distinct. His black hair had been pulled back into a small pony-tail, his eyes shut. Standing on the opposite side of the bed was Tsunade, her arms crossed with her index finger tapping her elbow.

"You're all late." she told them. "We don't have time for this. Get in here."

They nodded and walked in shutting the door. The boy opened his eyes but didn't look over, his face as expressionless as Gaara's.

The boy spoke in a soft spoken voice. "Sasuke Uchiha," he said without looking. "Does that name mean anything to either of you people?"

Everyone in the room got stiff, their bodies bolted up right, eyes wide. The boy looked over at them, his eyes never wavering.

"I'll ask again. Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura put a hand up and took a breath in. Calmly she answered, "Yes. It does mean something."

"Good. Then let me ask you this. The Kingdom of Ishia. Do you all know of it?"

Everyone but Naruto nodded.

"Ishia?" Naruto asked. "What's that?"

Everyone in the room face palmed except the boy. Sakura looked to Naruto and put a finger up.

"Ishia," she began to explain. "It's a kingdom hidden deep in the Land of Lightning. Around the southeastern side of the country really. It's on the coastline. The Kingdom is a completely neutral place. It's private ninja force is strongest in the world, on top of that it holds all of the worlds money. A direct result of that is that the village is prone to very, very few attacks. In known history the village has only been attacked once, and it was a terribly failed attempt."

Sai interrupted her. "On top of that, the country is also well known for it's art. In fact the prin-"

"Okay I get it!" Naruto shout it. "The countries real important! But what does this have to do with Sasuke!?"

The room got quiet again, and again everyone looked towards the boy. He nodded.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ray Urahara, and I am the interim bodyguard for Princess Iashia. As a result I am from the Kingdom of Ishia… which as of now has been attacked twice in history. The second time a success."

Sakura shot back. "How!? What about the guards!? The ninjas!?"

Ray shook his head. "More than half of the force had been killed before we even knew what was going on. As for the rest, I don't know. I was ordered by His Majesty to get the Princess out of the Kingdom as fast as possible. I grabbed her, a spare set of clothes and whatever necessities we needed and was out of the village within ten minutes of the direct order."

Naruto shook his head. "But what about Sasuke!?"

"This is where he comes in. I had read reports on the Uchiha boy. Crow like hair, Sharingan… and the Chidori. All of which I witnessed. I could only see his outline, but his eyes could not lie. I am sure that boy was there, standing on top of the castle watching the destruction he and his alley caused."

Naruto clenched his fists while trying to keep his calm.

_Sasuke… why would you do this?_

Sakura put a finger to her chin. "Do you know if they headed anywhere else."

"They won't."

"How would you know that?"

"They were after something."

"How would you know THAT?"

"Because they were only attacking one spot," came a small voice from behind. Everyone looked back at the door. Standing in the doorway was a little girl with a blue kimono, on both sides was a very distinguished decal of a beautiful white lotus flower. A flower so rare that most have only heard of it. It's vines stretched around her kimono gracefully. The girl had silver hair that even though it was tied up with a light blue bow it still reached the middle of her back. Her skin wasn't as white as Sai's, however it was more of a pure white, like snow or the lotus. Her large blue eyes gleamed like stars.

The girl bowed eloquently. "I am Princess Isou," she introduced. "It is very nice to meet you all."

"Princess!" Ray said jerking up, he winced and held is side. "Where were you Princess!?"

"Calm down," came a stern voice from the other side of the door. The owner of the voice stepped out and revealed to be Neji, standing next to him was Shikamaru.

"We found her eating dumplings with Anko." Shikamaru instructed.

Isou smiled sweetly. "They were very delicious. We don't have those in my kingdom."

Shikamaru nodded and continued where the Princess left off. "As Princess Isou was saying, they were after something. She told us on the way. Also I did research on the country about four years ago. Somewhere in the kingdom is something called the "Dark Core.' It's exactly what it sounds like. A core full of the power of darkness. It has the power to increase whoever has it's chakra by two hundred fold. It's only a legend though."

Sakura thought for a second. "Sasuke's never been the kind to chase legends though. So why would he attack?"

"It wasn't just him." Ray interrupted, gritting his teeth. "There was another man with a few other ninja with him. Long white hair… his name's Saito Aizen. A man to be feared."

Tsunade tapped her hand on the desk and sat on it crossing her legs. "How would you know about his man Ray?"

Ray paused instead of answering, looking down at his hands, his eyes began to flare up with anger, but it soon disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He looked around the room, several pairs of eyes staring at him. He looked to the princess who nodded and smiled sweetly at him. He nodded and sighed.

"I have only been Princess Isou's bodyguard for three days. Three days ago I was wandering around. I don't belong to any village or country. I do odd jobs to get by. I was running out of money when I showed up and there were signs that anybody could become the Princess' guardian with his blessing. However when I got there the guard had nearly attacked me. I told his majesty I wanted the job. The only thing I had to do according to him was ten of his strongest men. I took them all on at once and knocked them out in five minutes."

The princess nodded. "It's true."

"I was only planning on staying until the end of today since I got my money but… a promise is a promise."

The room was quiet once again. The princess walked up to Ray's bed setting her hands on his bedside. Tsunade stood up banging her hands on the table.

"All right!" she shouted. "That's where all of you will come in! Sakura, Neji, Naruto and Shikamaru will go. Shikamaru you'll lead the team. You need to sneak in and take back the kingdom. Understood? This is a sneaking mission. Only fight when necessary got it?"

Sai stepped forward. "What of me ma'am?"

"Sai, you are to stay here in the village. I have another assignment for you. Yamato I need you to prepare a backup team should something happen."

Yamato nodded and dashed out.

Tsunade looked at the remainder of the group. "Now Shikamaru here is your role as leader. Follow the orders of Ray unless under attack."

He nodded and scratched his head. "Right."

She looked towards the injured teen. "However you can't leave until your healed."

Ray looked at her with dark glaring eyes. "That'll be tomorrow."

Sakura gasped. "With those wounds!?"

Ray nodded and looked at her. "Trust me. It'll be tomorrow."

Tsuande sighed. "Geez… alright. All of you go get ready and get some rest. You leave first thing tomorrow!"

The ninja group stood at attention and shouted in unison. "Right!"


	3. Revolving around the Princess

**A/N: Yo! Next chapter up. Uuuuuuuh… yeeeah. That's all I gotta say. Have fun!**

Naruto slumped up to the city gates, yawning. The sun hadn't even risen yet and the record keepers weren't at their station yet. He rubbed his eyes and stretched. "Did we have to leave this early?"

"Yes," came a quiet voice. Naruto jumped and looks to his side. Ray stood right beside him and Naruto fell. "When did you get there!?" he shouted.

Ray shook his head. "About ten seconds ago."

Naruto looked him over, this guy didn't really look like a ninja at all. He had leather boots instead of sandals on, black pants and a black leather vest with a plain black long sleeved shirt on, a skull necklace around his neck. His hair covered his left eye. His hands had fingerless gloves with studs on the knuckles. A headband that had a small castle decal on it had been wrapped around his right arm. A leather guitar case was strapped around his back, it had two extra compartments on it. All in all he really didn't look anything like a normal ninja.

Standing next to him holding his hand was the princess in a kimono that was the same as the day before but pink. She was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. A few minutes later the rest of the group arrived. "So where are we headed?" Shikamaru yawned.

Ray answered, "There's a port village north west of this one that's on the border of the lands. If we go nonstop it should take us the majority of the day to get there. From there we take a boat to a city that's near the kingdom."

Sakura looked at him, then the princess. "Hey Ray," she said questioningly, "The princess, can she keep up in that?"

"Don't worry," he answered. "Watch. Princess if you could." He handed her a paintbrush and she quickly and gracefully made a seal on the ground, then stood in the middle of it painting the character for transportation on her hand. Ray kneeled to the ground and made hand symbols faster than the human eye could see.

"Allow me to show you the kind of jutsu I use…. Darkness style, Seal of the Dark Globe."

A dark aura shot up, surrounding the princess. She smiled and waved as the aura quickly turned into a ball around her. Ray tapped the ground, there was a poof of smoke, and when it faded the princess was surrounded by a ball of some kind of darkness. It was see through and she waved.

Everybody's jaw had dropped as the ball floated above Ray's head. He looked up touching it. "Are you alright princess?" he asked.

She nodded and looked over. "This is a special jutsu he came up with," she explained. "I could never keep up, but with the help of his chakra this ball follows him and protects me. It also gives me great shade."

Ray looked over to the group. "Is everyone ready? We have a long way to go today."

"Yes!" They all shouted in unison.

"Alright," Ray nodded. "We leave."

Then all at once the entire group disappeared into the darkness of the early morning.

However, just outside the village gates somebody was hiding in a black cloak. The hooded finger raised a delicate finger, a dark aura shot off from it.

"Master," said the cloaked woman. "They're preparing to come."

**However, at the same time at the Kingdom of Ishia…**

The long white haired man walked through the dungeon. It was a dank dark place, looked as if it hadn't been used in decades. Water dripped from pipes and it smelled like crap down there. Aizen couldn't stand it, but he bared with it as he stopped at a prison cell. Looking inside there was a man there. He was slumped over, his hair snaking across his shoulder, his beard destroyed. Even in royal garments he looked poor and broke. The man looked up at him however with fiery red eyes.

Aizen chuckled a little. "Come now King Tobizaki. Surely you can tell me where it is. After all if you give it to me I can leave your kingdom peacefully."

The king shook his head and glared. "You may leave the kingdom, but you will spread darkness across the land. I know your kind all too well."

Aizen laughed. "Ah it seems you have caught me. It's alright though. I could kill you at anytime."

"That's the thing though. You won't kill me. You have to keep me alive. Otherwise you will never know where it is."

Aizen stopped laughing, and looked over the king, then smirked. "Your right," he said wickedly, "but I can make you wish I would kill you."

He lifted his hand, seconds later King Tobizaki Isou began writhing and yelling out in pain. Aizen just laughed, he loved to watch a person squirm under his power. That's when he knew he was better. He was the strongest. He deserved power.

"Master Aizen!" came a deep voice. A large man in one of the hooded cloaks appeared, bowing at Aizen's feet. "We have a messege from Takina."

"Oh?" He snapped and Tobizaki fell to the ground, breathing hard. "Let's hear it," Aizen ordered.

The man nodded taking out a small scroll and opening it. It had a seal on it and the man made a few hand signs, putting his hand on the seal. A dark aura sphere surrounded the scroll until an image of the woman in the hood appeared.

"Master Aizen," her voice said, it sounded a little fuzzy. "Takina reporting. The princess has been found as well as the boy you requested us to follow. They have gone to the Leaf Village and have gotten aid from ninja of the village."

Pictures of the ninja appeared in front of her. "These are the ninja they have requested help. It appears that they are headed, with the princess, back to the Kingdom and should arrive in the next few days at the pace they are headed. I will continue to spy on them until further orders."

The figure disappeared, Aizen's smirk turned into a wicked smile as he laughed. "They come back here to try to save the Kingdome!? Ha! Wait… this is perfect…" He went to the king, opening the cell grabbing him by his collar.

"Look well 'Your Highness.'" He showed him the picture of his daughter on the transmission. "This is the last you will see of your daughter."

"W..what do you mean?"

He smirked and looked over to his servant. "Roshido! Give Takina an order from me." he looked over to the King. "Kill Princess Isou… using any means necessary. Tell her to attack at midnight unless told otherwise."

The king's face dropped as the larger man disappeared Aizen let him go and walked out locking up his cell. He looked over to the king. "You have until midnight tonight Tobizaki."

Aizen walked out and King Tobizaki slumped to the ground. "My daughter… damn it." He clutched his fist and hit the ground, but realized something as he looked at the scroll in front of him. The ninja there. He's heard of them. They were all great ninja. Maybe there was a chance. Could he risk his daughter's life though? And why would Ray bring her back instead of keeping her there?

**Later that evening**

Naruto jumped up holding a bowl. "More please!" he shouted. A waitress bowed and left the room to get him more food. Sakura face palmed.

"Naruto could you be anymore embarrassing?" she asked a little annoyed.

Shikamaru picked his ear with his pinky not really paying attention. Neji and Ray quietly ate their fried rice and the princess giggled a little bit at Naruto. Ray stopped eating and looked to the princess a little stunned. Shikamaru noticed this, then looked at the princess, then back at Ray. He put his bowl down.

"Ray," he asked, "you alright?"

Ray shook his head a little. "Yeah. Just fine," he reassured. "just a little tired is all. Don't worry about me."

Ray stiffened up, his eyes went narrow and he looked down at his food.

_Someone's near. Just one person… and some dark chakra._

He looked around. Naruto was laughing as Sakura was trying to calm him down. Princess Isou giggling along with him. Shikamaru had been leaning on the wall with his eyes closed, possibly asleep. Neji looked over to Ray and nodded. He knew too but shook his head.

Ray studied the chakra. It wasn't moving, as if it were waiting for something. What was it waiting for though? He stood and went over to the princess, kneeling. "Your Highness it is your bedtime."

She looked over at him. "Do I have to Ray? It's very lively out here tonight."

He nodded and Isou stood holding onto his hand. "Okay then." She bowed. "Goodnight everyone. Very sweet dreams to you all."

Ray took her to her room, a few minutes later he came back sitting on his pillow and looked around the room. Sakura looked over to him. "What's going on?" she asked.

"There's somebody here."

"There is?"

Neji nodded. "It's faint. I can hardly sense the chakra, but someone is definitely here."

Ray put a hand on the table. "The chakra they are using is the same chakra I use. It's dark chakra."

Sakura put a hand on the table, interrupting him with a stern look. "Hold on, what's dark chakra? I've never heard of anything like this."

"It's a special chakra. There's only two ways to obtain it. The first is through natural means. You must be born with it. I was that and so was the man that took over the kingdom, Saito Aizen. The second is through artificial means. The chakra can be transferred through a dangerous surgery. However if the person lives they have the chakra within them and can control it then and there. It is a powerful chakra that can produce powerful jutsu. Don't underestimate it."

Naruto sat down. "So who's following us."

Ray shook his head and eyed the door to the outside of the room. "I don't know. The chakra is relatively weak though. I think it could be one of his follower. Possibly the demon summoner."

Everyone looked at him questionably, but he didn't change his glare. "Don't take these people likely. Shikamaru, your in charge but I know these attackers. I suggest we keep watch. They're after the princess."

The two young men looked at each other. Shikamaru was the first to speak after a minute of silence. "Sure. I get it. Alright. Neji and I will take the post outside her room door. Neji use your Byakugan and search for this person. You'll be our eyes in the sky. Sakura I want you on the inside door and guarding it just in case. They're bound to come in from the outside but just in case it's the inside. Naruto, you'll be with Ray inside her room. If they get in your our last chance."

Everyone nodded in agreement and left to their post. Ray turned out the lights in the main room, then they waited as the partially full moon began to rise.

Isou woke up not too long after. "Ray?" she asked. "Is everything alright?"

He sat next to her, propping his knee up and resting his arm on it. "Yes madam. Please rest"

"It's alright. I'm really not tired. I'd like to stay up if you wouldn't mind."

Ray looked over to her with an expressionless face. "As you wish."

Naruto looked over. "Hey Ray, why would they be after her right now? If the dark… thing is in the kingdom wouldn't they be there?"

Nobody talked, the princess looked down and Ray looked to the window. Naruto looked at them but didn't question it anymore after that. They all waited there, in the silence of the night.


End file.
